Report: 'Serial' To Tackle Bowe Bergdahl Case

September 23, 2015 at 4:59 AM (PT)

A season of SERIAL will focus on the mystery surrounding Sgt. BOWE BERGDAHL's disappearance from an army base and imprisonment in AFGHANISTAN, according to a report in MAXIM magazine confirmed by THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

The controversy over BERGDAHL's case, in which his story of being captured after leaving the base to draw attention to problems there has been contradicted by fellow soldiers who charge that BERGDAHL was instead a deserter, led to BERGDAHL's current status, in which a preliminary hearing was held to determine if he will be court-martialed.

MAXIM reports that SERIAL host SARAH KOENIG and at least one producer were at the hearing, and two former members of BERGDAHL's unit voiced concern that the podcast or a possible movie from "ZERO DARK THIRTY" screenwriter MARK BOAL, who is working with director KATHRYN BIGELOW on that project, will tell the truth without being biased in favor of BERGDAHL.

SERIAL/THIS AMERICAN LIFE Production Manager EMILY CONDON told MAXIM, "We'd very much appreciate if fellow journalists would give us some room and not feel the need to attempt to dig into and try to figure out what you think we might be doing, especially since we're actively reporting stories, and having a bunch of wild speculation out there makes our job reporting harder. Doesn't feel very menschy. In any case, here's what I can tell you: The SERIAL staff is currently working on several things simultaneously: Season 2, Season 3, and some other podcast projects. For now we're not talking publicly about anything that we're working on."

SERIAL's first season looked at the case of ADNAN SYED, a young BALTIMORE man convicted of murdering his girlfriend.